If you slid open my shower door, you’d find an amazing array of bottles, tubes and cans. I counted twenty-one the other day, a clear violation of bathroom protocol. Who needs more than one shampoo, conditioner, kid’s shampoo, shaving cream and maybe a fancy tube of facial cleanser? Five items, right?
Twenty-one is excessive.
Unless, of course, you are six years old and possess a healthy imagination.
Grace produces, writes, directs and stars in dramatic productions in the shower. She acts out the parts played by various empty containers. I can hear her reciting the parts, wholly present in her imaginary world while water sprays down on her. (We waste so much water. Please do not tell the Environmentalists.)
And so I can’t throw away any empty bottles. (Look! I’m saving the landfills!) I know that one day my shower stall will feature a tidy collection of full containers because my little girl will have abandoned the pretend world of empty shampoo bottles who talk to empty conditioner bottles.
As we meander through each stage of childhood and parenthood, I try to notice the good parts. I try to savor the joys. I try not to scream my head off unless it’s absolutely necessary.
And I retrieve the empty shaving cream can from the trash so Grace will have a trio of shaving cream cans.
My husband thinks Grace and I are both a little nuts. (We creative types baffle him.)
Actual Unretouched Photo 
I have 3 big Rubbermaid tubs full of all kinds of toys for the grandboys. What is their current favorite? A packet of multi-colored straws that cost…what?…maybe a dollar? Dylan loves to gather them all together and ‘rain’ them down on either Cooper or me. They’ve been around a while and are much-used — I like to think of them as ‘much-loved’. (Why do parents/grandparents spend a fortune on toys? Most of this generation’s toys have been bought at Value Village/Goodwill and sanitized before use, HA!) Dylan hands me a bouquet of them every day, one of each color. I consider these ‘flowers’ priceless.
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This is darling!
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Ummm…. There’s a problem with this? When my daughter was 2 her very favorite toy was a scrub brush. One of those old fashioned wood ones. She would wrap it up in a blanket and treat it like a baby. It didn’t help that we drew a face on it. She’s 13 now, and when we bring it us she denies everything.
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lol, too cute!! she could be collecting worse things!! 😉
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at least what she collects is clean stuff
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Think how much money you are saving on toys! As an aside, my son used to build “bases” for his GI Joes out of old containers and boxes and stuff. One day he found a (used…ewww!) cardboard tampon applicator in the bathroom trash and wanted to use it for his base. He had no idea what it was, being only about 7 years old. Now THAT’s recycling!!! :p
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